Increasing Awareness of Publishing and Scholarly Engagement Opportunities in The English Department at NCCU

Increasing Awareness of Extracurricular Opportunities 2010
Increasing Awareness of Extracurricular
Opportunities at NCCU
Prepared by Tressie McMillan
Student Researcher
April 24, 2010
Prepared for
Dr. Colleen Fulford
First Year Writing Director, NCCU

Increasing Awareness of Publishing and Scholarly Engagement Opportunities in the English

Department at NCCU
Tressie McMillan
This report analyzes how the English Department at North Carolina Central University can
increase student awareness of, and participation in, scholarly activities that enhance their
marketability and skill sets. The analysis was conducted during the spring semester of 2010. The
purpose of this report is to provide Dr. Collie Fulford, First Year Writing Director at NCCU,
analysis of the department’s communication method and to implement policy solutions that
increase participation in resume- and skill-building initiatives among English majors. An online
quantitative study of NCCU students was conducted to:
1. Quantify how students currently learn of opportunities.
2. Assess student perceptions of communications methods in their academic departments.
3. Determine what social media and internet sites students currently use and with what
frequency.
Interviews with students, faculty, and administrators were conducted with faculty, administrators
and students at NCCU. Recommendations include:
1. Establishing a department Facebook page.
2. Training graduate students in the Writing Center to maintain department social network
site.
3. Encouraging student and faculty buy-in by demonstrating the site in upper-level English
courses and faculty meetings.
Table of Contents
ABSTRACT..................................................................................................................................iii
Executive Summary.......................................................................................................................1
Introduction....................................................................................................................................6
Why Extracurricular Opportunities Matter ……………………………………………… 6
Increasing Student Awareness and Engagement…………………………………………. 7
Opportunity and Communication…………………………………………………………7
English Department EOs: Current Snapshot .............................................................................8

Decentralization...................................................................................................................9
Time, Location, Space.........................................................................................................9
Timeliness .........................................................................................................................10
Initiative and Investment ...................................................................................................11
Research Methods and Findings ................................................................................................12
Survey Participants ...........................................................................................................13
EO Awareness....................................................................................................................13
Perceptions of EO Communication……………………………………………………... 15
Students Choice of Social Media………………………………………………………...15
Recommendations……………………………………………………………………………...16
Facebook Page Creation and Maintenance…………………………………………….. 17

The Writing Studio………………………………………………………………..…….18
Faculty Buy-In…………………………………………………………………………..19
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………..... 20
Works Cited…………………………………………………………………………………… 21
Executive Summary
English majors at North Carolina Central University benefit from publishing and
networking opportunities (henceforth, “extracurricular opportunities” or EOs). These
opportunities provide valuable training for graduate school and the workplace.
Participation not only adds value to students’ resumes but develops writing, speaking and
relationship-building skills. To increase student participation in these valuable
opportunities it is important to increase student awareness of them. The primary method
currently used to communicate these announcements is the posting of flyers on office
doors within the department. This method is decentralized and dependent upon the will of
individual professors.
This method also requires students to patrol the halls on a regular basis for new
information. With no guidelines for timeliness or organized posting rules students have to
vet each flyer individually for appropriateness and availability. For example, one office
door currently has an announcement with a due date in 2009 and partially obscuring a
more recent announcement. This method creates unnecessary and counter-productive
roadblocks for students.
Purpose and Methodology
This report proposes a centralized, electronic database of all extracurricular
opportunities for English majors.
To define the scope of the current problem of communicating EOs a random
survey was conducted of current NCCU students. Without a mechanism to only
administer the survey to English majors the survey was available to all NCCU students.
Self-identifying questions about major and classification was used to sort the results for
current English majors. The study was used to determine how current English majors
perceive the department’s effectiveness at communicating EOs. The survey also collected
information about which social media and internet networking sites that students access
most frequently.
Scope and Findings
Nearly half of all students surveyed said that their department could “do a better
job” of communicating EOs. For English majors that number is over 50%. Of those
students who have responded to an EO most of them said they found out about the
opportunity by email. However, interviews with faculty members concluded that the
majority of EOs are not emailed. Thus, many EOs are never distributed by the most
effective means.
Conclusions and Recommendations
Over 80% of all students surveyed said they use Facebook “several times a day.”
With student awareness so high, this proposal recommends the creation of a department
Facebook page.
Facebook offers mass emailing that could mimic the success of school-wide
emails as seen in the aforementioned data. In addition, its event scheduling function
would provide a calendar of due dates for each EO posted, addressing the current issue of
outdated announcements crowding out active ones. The ability to post comments to each
announcement would allow students to ask questions of the professor or faculty member
who posts the EO. The current flyer system necessitates coordinating a face-to-face
meeting. With Facebook the professor or faculty member could answer at a time most
convenient for them and their response can be viewed by other students, minimizing
repetitive questions.
The University has published guidelines for the initiation and management of
NCCU-branded media. To ensure compliance the page’s moderation could be restricted
to staff members in the writing center. Staffed by graduate students, the writing studio has
the technology and resources to manage the site with minimal training and zero financial
investment.
An English department Facebook page would provide a structured, yet responsive
method of communicating EOs to students. It capitalizes on existing knowledge,
awareness, and department resources. The proposal requires only buy-in from faculty and
publicizing the page. That minimal investment could positively impact the marketability,
satisfaction and profile of English majors and graduates.

Introduction
This report examines the effectiveness of existing means of communicating
extracurricular opportunities (EOs) to English majors at North Carolina Central University. The
purpose of this report is to provide faculty and administration in the English department the data
and method to implement an online database of EOs. Recommendations are provided for: Chair
of the English department, First Year Writing Director, and the Technology Learning Center.
Why Extracurricular Opportunities Matter
Extracurricular opportunities are defined, for the purposes of this report, as any internal
or external opportunity for NCCU students to engage in activities that augment their education.
These include calls for papers (CFPs), academic conferences, symposiums, and publishing
opportunities in journals, anthologies and other publications.
EOs provide opportunities for students to use skills acquired during their formal education in a
variety of settings. This is essential for students who plan to continue their education in graduate
school, but it is also beneficial for students entering the workforce (Zernike). Researcher Betsy
Stevens conducted a survey among the top employers in Silicon Valley – the technology hub
located in California – for the most desirable skills in college graduates seeking employment.
Employers rated oral and written communication as the most important skill they look for in
potential hires (Stevens, 1-13).
NCCU has responded to this desire from graduate schools and employers by
implementing the Quality Enhancement Plan in 2009 (Alston). The school-wide initiative is
focused on improving oral and written critical thinking and communication skills in NCCU
graduates. For the English department that focus is essential to its mission of producing
graduates who can communicate across platforms.
EOs extend the mission of the English department and the QEP into real-world environments
where students can use what they have learned in class. These are critical opportunities for
students to practice oral and written communication, expressing an idea, building relationships
and networking. Yet, this very critical component of the QEP and department mission is currently
relegated to flyers and posters on the walls.
Increasing Student Awareness and Engagement
Communicating available EOs will increase student participation. An online survey of
NCCU students in March 2010 found that over half of all students think their departments can
“do a better job” of telling them about EOs. Of the students who have participated in an EO, over
60% of them found out about the opportunity by an electronic means. Students, as judged by the
number who have already participated in an EO, are interested, but finding out about appropriate
EOs is ad-hoc, at best.
Opportunity and Communication

The data collected for this proposal shows that all of the requisite resources already exist
to initiate and successfully manage an online database of EOs.
Student surveys show that students, across major and classification, are comfortable with
interacting with faculty and peers online. The technology and learning center, housed in the same
building as the English department, has a precedent for a department, NCCU-branded social
networking page. The writing studio, staffed by graduate students in the English department, has
computers and personnel to manage the site.
This proposal outlines student perceptions of the English departments’ current means of
communicating EOs. It also identifies examples of how universities, including NCCU, currently
employ social networking to communicate with students and faculty. Finally, recommendations
for how to initiate, manage and leverage a social networking page for English majors is detailed.
English Department EOs: Current Snapshot
A review of all EOs posted within the English department was conducted on February 18,
2010. The researcher performed a visual inspection of notices on each office door and hallway
space. The doors with the greatest number of announcements were selected for further review.
Office one had 18 announcements posted. Of those 18 six announcements had deadlines that had
passed. The remaining 12 listed websites where further information could be located. None of
the announcements listed the professor whose office door held the announcement as a contact.
Office Two had more postings but fewer EO announcements. The largest posting was not an EO
but a newspaper article. To view the other, smaller, announcements one had to physically move
the article aside. Seven announcements were catalogued. All seven had viable, future deadlines
and websites for further information. One announcement instructed interested students to speak
with their local faculty representative for assistance. However, no name or contact information
for the local faculty representative was listed on the announcement. While it is logical to assume
that the professor whose door held the announcement would be the faculty representative the best
means for contacting him or her was not clear.
This visual inspection reveals several problems with the department's current means of
communicating EO announcements:
1. It is decentralized.
2. Its access is limited by time, location, and space.
3. It is not timely.
4. It demands unnecessary initiative from both students and faculty.
Decentralization
The current EO announcement method lacks any coordinated management. As it stands,
faculty members receive information about an EO. Each faculty member then decides what is of
most interest or what is most important to communicate. The distribution of the EO that meets
those criteria is then dependent upon the faculty member finding the time to post the EO to their
door or in the hallway.
A process' success grows weaker with every additional step. This can be seen in email
“blasts” – those forwards and listserv announcements people agree to receive and are often
overwhelmed by. One of the reasons email forwards and listservs are so numerous is because
they are so easy to send. Two clicks of a mouse and information can be delivered. That is a
minimal investment on the part of the sender. The desire to communicate information is
reinforced by the immediate access to communicate it.
By contrast the desire – or, the best intention – of a faculty member to communicate an
EO within the English department's current system is not reinforced by immediately accessible
means to communicate information. This restricts the flow of valuable information from faculty
to students. A centralized, managed system that reduces the steps a faculty member must take to
communicate an EO increases the likelihood of an EO being communicated.
Time, Location, and Space
The flyer system of EO distribution is also greatly restricted by the physical limitations –
time, location, and space – of paper and access.
Currently, a student inclined to respond to an EO must walk the third floor of the
Communication building with the intention of seeing what has been posted. This requires that a
student have access to the building during the hours that the building is open. If a student does
not have a class on the third floor of the Communications building – English majors are still
obligated to take core requirements in other departments located in other buildings – it is easy for
them to miss an EO. To counter the lack of opportunity for happenstance – seeing an EO notice
as one roams the halls for other purposes – students must schedule time that does not conflict
with class, other student engagements or the building's hours of operation. That is an unnecessary
obstacle that places the entire burden of navigation on the student.
These physical limitations are also problematic for faculty members. Emailed EO
announcements require the faculty member inclined to share it to print the notice. With the
current pressures to print and copy judiciously to save money, this creates a conflict between
budgetary concerns and communicating valuable information that does not have to exist.
Faculty members are also restricted by limited time to sort and distribute EOs. Interviews with
Dr. Collie Fulford and Dr. Larry Nessly made clear the many demands made of a professor's
time. Beyond the physical time spent out of their offices for teaching, the priority for faculty
member' office hours is being available for student conferences, lesson planning and
administrative duties. Reading, vetting and distributing paper EO notices can, and often does, fall
down the list of priorities. Again, this is an unnecessary complication, most of which negatively
impacts students.
Timeliness
Deadlines are an important consideration for all EO announcements. As with most things
in academia, missing a deadline has negative consequences. The current means of EO
distribution does not prioritize announcements by deadline. As seen in the visual inspection of
posted notices many take up valuable space long after they are viable opportunities.
A consequence of the decentralized nature of the current system, this lack of timeliness fails to
communicate the importance of EOs to students. If EO announcements are not important enough
to be organized according to their availability it is fair for a student to assume that EOs are not
important to the department or to them.
Initiative and Investment
Perhaps the most counterproductive issue with the current EO system is the unnecessary
initiative it demands of both faculty and students.

Faculty members committed to exposing their students to the benefits of EOs are solely
responsible for initiating their distribution. Doing so requires an investment of the very things
faculty members have a limited supply of: time and resources. Overcoming the obstacles of
finding the time to distribute EOs and procuring the resources to distribute them demands an
unnecessary level of initiative and investment.
Students face the same obstacles. Seeking out EOs, as they currently demand,
presupposes an awareness of their existence and importance that motivates the student initiative.
Yet, there is no evidence in our survey that students have received any indication from the
University that EOs are a valuable part of their education. Thus, the current EO flyer system
presupposes a level of awareness that is not grounded in reality. Cultivating that awareness could
encourage student initiative but without that cultivation, requiring student initiative seems
unrealistic and unfair.
Part of the education process is not just drawing upon what a student knows but exposing
them to what they do not know they don't know. A centralized, organized and accessible means
of distributing EOs supports the University QEP and department initiatives. A system that is
responsive to students' needs also communicates that EOs matter – something that students may
not know that they don't know.

Research Methods and Findings
To address the weaknesses of the current means of distributing EOs several research
methods were used to determine:
i. How do students perceive the effectiveness of the current method of communicating
EOs?
ii. What electronic means are students most comfortable using for communication and
social networking?
iii.What resources currently exist within the department to address student needs?
An online survey was designed to determine how well current NCCU students feel their
academic department communicates EOs.
The survey used a mixed methods design. Demographic, quantitative and qualitative
responses were gathered. Participants were allowed to skip questions. They were also asked to
volunteer their contact information for further contact by the researcher. There was no
participation penalty for skipping questions or refusing further contact.
The researcher acknowledges the statistical limitations of the study conducted. Because I
lacked a faculty preceptor sending a mass email to all NCCU students was not possible. Because
I did not have access to the entire student population I was not able to conduct a truly random
sample. Instead, the survey was posted on NCCU's intranet site and announced in English classes
by professors who agreed to do so. While the intranet site is available to all students the
respondents self-selected. The same is true of students who responded to a class announcement.
In addition, this lack of access to the entire student population restricted my ability to filter for
only English graduates. Students were asked to self-report their classification and majors to
counter this limitation.
Survey Participants
48 responses were collected between March 2, 2010 and April 2, 2010. None of the
respondents skipped a question. 26 students agreed to follow-up contact.
Of the 48 respondents 7, or 13%, listed their major as English.
EO Awareness
The current level of student awareness about EOs was the first step in identifying if they
problem, as hypothesized, exists.
In the survey EOs were defined as “an academic program, scholarship, or other academic
opportunity” that was NOT mandatory for a class grade.
Students responded:
Student Awareness of EOs, Figure 1

An overwhelming majority of students surveyed have received notification of an EO.
This suggests that there is an awareness of the concept of EOs, if not always an awareness of
specific available EOs.
How do students hear about EOs? The most common methods, ranked by response:
How Students Learn of EOs; Figure 2

The survey shows that students who have heard of an EO in their department did so by a
notice posted on the wall. A very close second was an emailed notice sent to students’ NCCU
email account. The former supports my hypothesis that fliers are the most common delivery
method of EOs. The latter supports my hyothesis that students are comfortable receiving EO
information via electronic means. It is also important to note that the NCCU intranet digital
board (“Eagle’s Nest”) ranks 5th of the six options. I hypothesize that the static nature of the
digital board is less effective in communicating complex information like EOs. Emails allow for
greater text and an easy means of responding to the sender for questions and further information.
These results show an awareness of EOs and student interest in responding to them.
Perceptions of EO Communication
To understand how students perceive of their department’s success at effectively
communicating EOs the following was asked:
Student Perceptions of Deparment Effectiveness, Figure 3
48% of students surveyed percieve their department’s current means of distributing information
about EOs as either inadequate or ineffective.
Students’ Choice of Social Media
Students were asked about how frequently they use a list of the most popular social
media websites currently available. Their frequency of use is used as a proxy for both their level
of awareness of and comfort level with the corresponding websites.

Students’ Social Media Tools, Figure 4
The majority of students not only use Facebook but they do so at least once a day. It
should also be noted that Facebook had the fewest number of students who never use Facebook.
Therefore, Facebook is the most dominant in both awareness and use by the students surveyed.
Recommendations
The student survey supports that there is an opportunity to improve the methods
departments use to communicate EOs. With the majority of all students surveyed showing a level
of comfort with social media sites and 48% of them perceiving that their departments could do a
better job of telling them about EOs, using social media to address that perception is both logical
and effective.
These findings, combined with interviews and observations, support the creation of a
department social media networking site that includes what works now and improves upon what
does not work.
NCCU students not only use Facebook on a daily basis but like most college students, they
depend upon the social media network to provide information. (Berger)Student awareness of
Facebook makes it the preferred choice for this department page. It also includes the
functionality of the second most effective means currently used to communicate EOs: email. It
also allows for two-way communication to resolve student questions.
Faculty and student interviews reveal that the personnel and technology to create and
maintain a department Facebook page already exists within the English department.
These recommendations address how the page would be created and maintained; how it could be
utilized by faculty and students; and how it could increase student awareness of and participation
in EOs.
Facebook Page Creation and Maintenance
There is an existing template for the creation of an NCCU-branded departmental
Facebook page. Dan Reis of NCCU’s Multimedia Designer for the Center for University
Teaching & Learning serves as a liaison for faculty who incorporate social media into their
pedagogy. NCCU’s Social Media Club has a Facebook page that incorporates the functionality of
the media with the mission of the University.
To create a similar page for the English department the project would require a faculty
preceptor. Dr. Collie Fulford sees the potential of such a page and as First Year Writing Director
is a natural choice for faculty lead on this project. To become an official arm of the University
the Facebook page must be registered in accordance with the University’s new Guidelines for
Announcements and Events document. (cite) This document’s most recent revision clarifies the
process for creating an internet presence for NCCU related events.
The page must be registered with the public relations office by submitting details of its purpose
and all responsible parties to Chantal Winston in the public relations department. After receiving
Ms. Winston’s approval the page could be created.
The Writing Studio
For social media to fulfill its highest potential it must be integrated into the functionality
of the organization using it. That includes regular maintenance, communication and moderation.
To, again, maximize existing resources this report recommends that the existing Writing Studio,
located in the English department, manage the day-to-day Facebook page maintenance.
The Writing Studio is staffed by English graduate students who provide writing assistance to
department undergraduates in writing effective college documents. The Studio is staffed Monday
through Friday with evening and weekend appointments available by request. As of the Fall
semester of 2009 English professors familiarized students with The Writing Studio by requiring
consultations for student papers. This has increased awareness of the Studio among English
students.
That awareness, combined with the expertise of the graduate students and the computers
available in the Studio, makes it the ideal place to house the Facebook EO initiative. Graduate
students would collect EOs from professors, post them to Facebook and monitor the page for
questions and concerns during regular Writing Studio office hours. Graduate students could also
advise students who use The Writing Studio for writing help of the page during their visits.
Dr. Fulford could work in conjunction with Dr. Karen Keaton Jackson, the faculty mentor for
The Writing Studio, to train and manage the graduate students in using the Facebook page.
Faculty Buy-In
The Writing Studio’s implementation also serves as a successful blueprint for overcoming
one of the major hurdles to the Facebook page’s success: department buy-in.
Many online initiatives wither due to neglect and lack of visibility. To prevent that the English
department – faculty, students and administration – must buy-in to its potential and importance.
The importance of EOs is communicated to students by faculty participation in the process. Just
as the Writing Studio was legitimatized by mandatory classroom participation, so, too, would
Facebook page benefit from faculty members using the page in class.
To encourage that process an online “show and tell” should be held during a faculty
meeting. The graduate student staff at The Writing Studio, Dr. Fulford and Dan Reis would
introduce the page during the meeting. This allows for immediate feedback from professors and
examples of how it could be discussed in class.

After showing the page to the faculty tools would be created to make implementing the
Facebook page into existing curricula as seamless as possible for professors. This would include
the creation of Facebook “badges” – html code that creates an online ad (called a widget) that
can be cut and pasted or emailed – for professors to include in class emails. The badges could be
emailed using existing blackboard emailing functionality to the entire class rosters. Students
could then save, copy and paste and click the badges for instant access to the Facebook page.
Facebook also allows students to share pages they have joined with others on their own
individual Facebook pages. That “sharing” could be encouraged by faculty members requiring
page membership as part of an online writing exercise, for example.
Such a writing exercise could include students researching and choosing an EO and
writing the corresponding essay or application for participation. This provides visibility for the
Facebook page, buy-in from the students, and guided instruction on how to use EOs to their
benefit.
Conclusion
All college students, across discipline, will experience a very different employment
picture than even the one five years ago. Experts agree that college students must begin
managing their career before graduation, even before their senior year. Managing one’s career
includes taking advantage of opportunities outside class to build and demonstrate skills
employers value.
NCCU recognizes this need, as demonstrated in its Quality Enhancement Survey. The
QEP’s mission can be furthered by incorporating social media already familiar to NCCU
students to increase their participation in Extracurricular Opportunities.

EOs are important for all majors, including the English department where liberal arts students
have a particular burden of proving their value beyond academia. EOs provide avenues for
English majors to network, develop skills and to build their resumes in preparation for
graduation.
A departmental Facebook page utilizes media already used, frequently, by current NCCU
students. All that is required to implement this tool are resources already available in the
department. Dr. Fulford has demonstrated an awareness of the potential of online media to
impact learning. Her position as First Year Writing Director is a logical place to house the
management of the Facebook page. Dan Reis has the technical expertise and experience with
creating NCCU-branded social media. Together with The Writing Studio, Dr. Keaton Jackson
and faculty buy-in the department’s Facebook page would be ready for implementation during
the Fall 2010 semester.

Works Cited
Alston, Regina R. 2009. www.nccu.edu. 5 April 2010
<http://www.sacscoc.org/pdf/2009%20track%20b%20qeps/North%20Carolina
%20Central%20University.pdf>.
Berger, Craig. College Students' Social Media Use and Implications for Millennial Activism and
Citizenship . 24 April 2010. 24 April 2010 <http://futuremajority.com/node/10497>.
Stevens, Betsy. "How Satisfied are Employers with Graduates' Communication Skills? A Survey
of Silicon Valley Employers." http://www.westga/edu/~bquest/2004/graduates.htm. 2004.
Zernike, Kate. "Making College ‘Relevant’ ." New York Times 29 December 2009: ED16.

Increasing Awareness of Publishing and Scholarly Engagement Opportunities in The English Department at NCCU

Enviado por

Dados do documento

Título original

Direitos autorais

Formatos disponíveis

Compartilhar este documento

Compartilhar ou incorporar documento

Opções de compartilhamento

Você considera este documento útil?

Este conteúdo é inapropriado?

Direitos autorais:

Formatos disponíveis

Increasing Awareness of Publishing and Scholarly Engagement Opportunities in The English Department at NCCU

Enviado por

Direitos autorais:

Formatos disponíveis

Increasing Awareness of Extracurricular Opportunities 2010

Increasing Awareness of Extracurricular

Prepared by Tressie McMillan

April 24, 2010

Dr. Colleen Fulford

First Year Writing Director, NCCU

Increasing Awareness of Publishing and Scholarly Engagement Opportunities in the English

1. Quantify how students currently learn of opportunities.

2. Assess student perceptions of communications methods in their academic departments.

1. Establishing a department Facebook page.

English Department EOs: Current Snapshot .............................................................................8

Facebook Page Creation and Maintenance…………………………………………….. 17

networking opportunities (henceforth, “extracurricular opportunities” or EOs). These

relationship-building skills. To increase student participation in these valuable

opportunities it is important to increase student awareness of them. The primary method

currently used to communicate these announcements is the posting of flyers on office

more recent announcement. This method creates unnecessary and counter-productive

roadblocks for students.

Purpose and Methodology

This report proposes a centralized, electronic database of all extracurricular

opportunities for English majors.

To define the scope of the current problem of communicating EOs a random

survey was conducted of current NCCU students. Without a mechanism to only

Scope and Findings

Conclusions and Recommendations

NCCU-branded media. To ensure compliance the page’s moderation could be restricted

An English department Facebook page would provide a structured, yet responsive

method of communicating EOs to students. It capitalizes on existing knowledge,

satisfaction and profile of English majors and graduates.

This report examines the effectiveness of existing means of communicating

Why Extracurricular Opportunities Matter

opportunities in journals, anthologies and other publications.

potential hires (Stevens, 1-13).

graduates who can communicate across platforms.

relegated to flyers and posters on the walls.

Increasing Student Awareness and Engagement

Communicating available EOs will increase student participation. An online survey of

EOs is ad-hoc, at best.

Opportunity and Communication

to initiate and successfully manage an online database of EOs.

computers and personnel to manage the site.

English Department EOs: Current Snapshot

means for contacting him or her was not clear.

2. Its access is limited by time, location, and space.

4. It demands unnecessary initiative from both students and faculty.

The current EO announcement method lacks any coordinated management. As it stands,

door or in the hallway.

reinforced by the immediate access to communicate it.

communicate an EO increases the likelihood of an EO being communicated.

Time, Location, and Space

time, location, and space – of paper and access.

obstacle that places the entire burden of navigation on the student.

in academia, missing a deadline has negative consequences. The current means of EO

important to the department or to them.

Initiative and Investment

initiative it demands of both faculty and students.

unnecessary level of initiative and investment.

unrealistic and unfair.

not know that they don't know.

Research Methods and Findings

methods were used to determine:

i. How do students perceive the effectiveness of the current method of communicating

academic department communicates EOs.